Chapter 11 (AIAG)
Review Responses: Gime'SS: You're welcome. ray233: Thank you. kuraitja: I'm glad, I spent quite a bit of time on those power rankings. Alex2909: I'm glad that you are. keyblademeister88: They were never going to agree, that was intentional and Harry needed more enemies for the final battle. pictureme: He's not a Dark Lord for one, he mostly opposes Voldemort's agenda and only considers muggles an acceptable loss in comparison to magical's. Voldemort is a rabid animal, a would-be baby killer, and a damn coward. Harry is capable of love and wants to experience it, he kills people who actually deserve it. anarion87: Thank you. gginsc: Glad you like the character. GoldRogue: First, thank you for your review. I generally avoid beta-readers, though I thought I was doing quite well without one, that's apparently not the case. I was fairly certain that I caught most spelling errors, but I may be wrong. In regards to the Judo Throw; Krum, Delacour, and Diggory were teenagers, and Bagman manhandled nobility, and an abused child who had many people wanting to kill him. I will concede that Harry has ceased maturing due to his obsession with improving himself, he's a child, and that was a by-product of my writing. The pacing, I would like you to elaborate on, because it's how I wanted it. Honestly, Harry didn't care that much, he still had a chance at a family with Sirius, but I failed to convey that to the readers apparently. Ron Weasley attempted to commit murder on nobility, but I will admit that Ron should have actually died from the basilisk venom. I simply forgot about that, I'm certainly not perfect. The expulsion was an abuse of power directed at someone he despised, but Ron couldn't exactly do magic without arms. His enemies are all easily goaded and Harry enjoys insulting people anyway, he has a lot of repressed anger from his upbringing and is unwittingly getting that out. His political power is not unquestionable, it's merely immense and can majorly shape the political landscape, see chapter ten, the winter solstice section for further proof. Nicolas Flamel is the richest person, though Harry could surpass him quickly. There is still this chapter and two more to go, and I think you will be surprised by the defeats Harry suffers, because they are considerable ones. I'll admit, there are cliches, I'm actually tiring of the Harry Potter universe, all I ever do is complain or change things a lot, and almost everything has been done and then overdone. naruto: Thank you. December 25th, 1994. It was finally the night of the Yule Ball, which Harry had tried to get out of, but ended up having to learn how to dance instead. On a positive note, his date was Fleur Delacour, and they would be attending a Mage Guild meeting together the next day. However, Harry still intended to get revenge on Tom for killing his family, for wasting his time, attempting to kill him, and for forcing him to learn how to dance. Every time Harry danced, he felt like an idiot, and he fully intended to repay Tom a hundred-fold for the humiliation he had suffered... even if that humiliation was entirely in his head. His thoughts of revenge had helped greatly during the Yule Ball, so far they had eaten and had danced, but Harry was still quite eager to leave. Harry had finally decided to make his move... "Fleur, would you like to go find somewhere more private?" "Qui," Fleur replied with a sexy smirk, eager to sleep with Harry and see if all of those rumors about him were true. Harry was happy. Instead of dancing around like an idiot, he would get to have sex with Fleur... hopefully until they were both exhausted. Harry led her Fleur away, to one of the rooms that he prepared for his sexual activities, while incredibly pleased to be free of this idiotic Yule Ball. December 26th, 1994. Last night was excellent... after Harry and Fleur left the ball, they had sex for hours, and until Harry shot enough seed to impregnate all of Magical Britain inside of her and all over her. They eventually fell asleep in each others arms... But, now, it was the day of Harry's induction into the Mage Guild. And he was excited! After today, he would be formally recognized for his magical power, and to a lesser extent, his knowledge. Harry had been assured that he could dominate the younger members of the Guild by Nicolas and Perenelle, who were both quite impressed with Harry. They and Professor Flitwick were confident that Harry could attain his Charms and DADA Mastery before the school year was up. If he kept working hard. Harry and Fleur exited the wards of Hogwarts and Nicolas and Perenelle activated their Portkey's; taking the four of them to Switzerland and to the International Mage Guild Headquarters. They arrived in Switzerland minutes later, with Harry barely managing to stay on his feet. He had never traveled that far before and was having to quickly adjust. "Will you be okay?" Nicolas asked in mild amusement. "I think so," Harry replied in annoyance. He was tempted to act like he was going to vomit on Nicolas, just to mess with him. "Good, lets go inside." Nicolas said, gesturing towards a grand marble building, which Harry found very impressive. Harry nodded, and the four of them began walking towards it. "In addition to yourself and Miss Delacour, there is also another member of the Megalos family joining the Guild. While you may or may not dislike Grindelwald or his supporters, you are expected to tolerate them here. In order for the Mage Guild to remain strong, Perenelle and I had to allow them back into our ranks, and allow those not imprisoned to be recognized as members." Harry nodded as they neared the doors, which opened to allow the four of them entry. "There aren't any Voldemort supporters are there?" Harry asked. "No. Most here regard him as a powerful idiot with a meaningless ideology. Muggle-borns are descended from Squibs and magical's who went to live in the Muggle World, as such, they find him quite stupid to end potentially valuable bloodlines." Perenelle replied, being the more sociable of the Flamels. "Voldemort couldn't join the Guild no matter how powerful he becomes, we just won't suffer his presence, arrogance, or his self-deluding behavior. You will both need to wait outside the meeting hall, and once we open the floor for new members, Nicolas will announce you taking up your hereditary seat, and for Fleur, her father will sponsor her entry into the Guild, and for Megalos, her brother, Grandmother, Grandfather, or all of them will do the same for her. Some of those who know and approve of you might reinforce your place in the Mage Guild by doing the same for you..." Perenelle trailed off, not-so-subtly hinting that they would be doing that for him. "We will see you both later," Nicolas said with a smile, before he and Perenelle entered the hall, with the doors closing behind them. "The Flamel's are fond of you, 'Arry." Fleur said, having mostly left her accent behind. "I know. They've taught me a lot too." Harry replied. "Oh? Like what?" Fleur asked, fishing for information. "I'll tell you after I win the Triwizard Tournament." Harry replied with a smirk, while inwardly being disappointed at her poor attempt to gain information about him. Truthfully, he had no intentions of ever revealing what he was actually capable of. He wanted potential enemies ignorant of his capabilities so that they would expose themselves and get put down. Fleur made her anger clear by turning away from him and ignoring him. How dare he dismiss her so easily! Over the next several minutes, members of the Guild began filing in, with Augusta and Alexander greeting Harry politely. Eventually, they were joined by a girl who seemed to know Fleur well, she introduced herself as Alexys Megalos, and she was around Harry's age, but seemed disinterested in him. Harry did sense an unidentified type of magical residue around her and made a mental note to ask Nicolas or Perenelle about it. They were called in before the Mage Guild, minutes later. "Hadrian, as you have four hereditary seats, you shall go first," Nicolas said. "Perenelle and I both sponsor you, and so have Augusta and Alexander, so you only need to proclaim your seat of power, if you wish, or just take your seat." "My seat of power will be Camelot," Harry said to Augusta's relief and the shock of most of the Mage Guild. "I made sure the wards were modernized and strengthened, so it should be secure." "You may take your seat then," Nicolas said in approval. Such a legendary seat of power would serve him well and he could also build a settlement to potentially create himself an army... he would most likely have the territory for it too. Harry nodded and he went to take the Emrys seat, which was on the same level as the other founding seats: Peverell, Slytherin, le Fay, Megalos, Patil, Black, and Augusta's family seat. They may have been minor nobility, but they generally produced those powerful enough to be Mages; her being extorted into marrying the former Lord Longbottom, or be charged with treason, risked that with the weak offspring that he produced but Neville was a chance to undo that damage to her bloodline. "Miss Megalos," Nicolas said. "You have been sponsored by your brother, grandparents, and Cort Delacour. You may seat yourself near your family." Nicolas said, before turning to Fleur. "You have been sponsored by your father, the Megalos family, and Hadrian expressed interest in doing so too... You may seat yourself near your father." Fleur nodded and quickly did so. "Now, I'm told the ICW and several of it's member nations have requested our aid..." Nicolas said, gesturing to Alexander Pierce; a powerful American Mage. "Yes, Archmage Flamel. There are several powerful people who desire dominance in the Americas. Two Mages, and an Archmage like yourself, though they aren't considered especially skilled or knowledgeable in magic. They are basically power-hungry brutes with great magical power and little skill, but do need to be put down quickly. They have their own loyal followers and personal armies to use in their ambitions to carve up their own empires." Pierce said. "It's a new problem, they might yet defeat each other, and do our work for us." Greengrass interjected. "The two Mages are working against the Archmage, but it's not impossible that they could weaken each other, and we could step in and dispose of the survivors. We would have to be quick about it though and not get captured by their forces, which would most likely remain largely intact." Pierce replied. "Do you have knowledge of their actions against the side? Movements, weaknesses, liabilities?" Harry asked nervously, immediately catching several peoples interests with his trail of thought. "We do," Pierce replied and corrected Harry. The information was given to the Mage Guild and entrusted to a select few of it's members, those proven in battle or strategy and former Aurors. "Could you leak this information to each side, letting them slowly get victories over each other and weaken themselves?" Harry asked. "You could basically use both sides as proxy's against each other, while taking no real losses. If this works then Mage Guild intervention could become unnecessary or minimal." "I like it," Zeus Megalos commented in a deep baritone. "It would also strengthen both sides somewhat, that would have to be addressed." Advik Patil commented, liking the plan, but not blind to it's flaws either. "Hmm... If the ICW and Mage Guild established a task force to pick off one or both sides of when they are already tired from battle, but that could force them combine forces... It would negate the flaw that you raised, assuming victory for the ICW and Guild. And increasing tensions between the two parties and making it more personal for them could reduce the risk of an alliance between them." "A decent plan and the best one suggested. And it avoids us having to undertake a prolonged campaign in a nation that's sympathetic or outright supportive of the enemy," Cort Delacour said in support. He was somewhat impressed, but didn't approve of his daughters interest in Harry Potter, the boy had too many enemies and kept making more of them. People began echoing in their own support. "Excellent," Nicolas said with a smile. He was quite proud of Harry for getting involved and for somewhat proving himself, at least in terms of strategic skill. Harry was already the most powerful of the new inductees, and knowing him, he would train harder to surpass everyone. Nicolas knew that Harry also intended to surpass Dumbledore and possibly defeat him if his reputation and standing worsened to the point where Harry could gain another accomplishment... defeating the Dark Lord Dumbledore. Nicolas found the idea quite amusing and decided that he just might help Harry achieve that. "Are there any other matters to discuss?" Nicolas asked. No one said anything, so he dismissed the meeting. Everyone began leaving, and Harry did the same, while also being given an amulet by Nicolas that would serve as a Portkey to Headquarters for him. February 24th, 1995. With Harry's induction into the Mage Guild came new goals and ambitions... He wanted to be the best of them. He spent the remainder of the Christmas holidays training intensely: he worked on battle magic, magic control; to prevent energy waste, and he finally found time to experiment with the Room of Requirement... And created a duplicate of himself and fought it for as long as he could and as much as he could. He pushed himself to his limits so that he could become stronger and took every safe opportunity to increase those limits further... He increased his efforts in acquiring his Defence Against the Dark Arts Mastery and his Charms Mastery... And he was to be presented with his DADA Mastery soon. Flitwick was testing Harry repeatedly to ensure that he was worthy of his Mastery, and Flitwick finally submitted Harry's work to the Charm's Master Guild and was awaiting their reply. His control over storms had only grown and Harry was refining that control even further to only use the necessary power, which Morgana approved of. Morgana also began teaching Harry some of her own skills and magic, such as shape-shifting, manipulating magic in its purest form, Soul Magic, and several other magical arts that would be derided as Dark. All of his hard work had paid off, and he was now a Tier-two Mage and halfway to Archmage status. The looks of shock that the Flamels, Augusta, Alexander, and Fleur had been giving him were priceless; only Nicolas and Perenelle knew his method of training and both were quite supportive and greatly impressed by his devotion. Sadly, the components of the serum that Harry uses to negate aging under time compression would interfere with their Elixir, so they couldn't train him more due to that. Harry didn't mind, he was already training hard and making great progress. It was finally the day of the second task and Katie Bell had been taken as Harry's hostage... He found it odd, but would, of course, still rescue her. Eventually, the whistle was blown and Harry's competitors all jumped into the lake, while Harry extended his magic senses to locate all human and veela magic within the lake... Moments later and he located them and levitated himself to the water above them, getting some gasps at his ability to fly. He landed on the water, standing on it, and getting even more gasps while he applied a Bubble-head Charm... That done, he sunk into the water, ignoring the cold while he focused on his target location. He found his hostage minutes later, cut Katie loose, and began his upwards ascension. They surfaced minutes later and Harry had quickly finished the task... all in under five minutes. When they exited the water, Harry quickly dried them both, earning a grateful look from Katie. "He's a cheat!" Theodore Nott called out gleefully, hoping the filthy half-blood would lose his magic. "I'm not a cheater! I don't have to cheat because the tasks are easy for me!" Harry replied in annoyance. "These tasks are intended to be challenging for people of average ability and intellect... Which I greatly exceed. I know Katie well and I sensed her magic; as well as that of Fleur's sister. One is familiar and the other is distinctive." "Now... Do shut up, you talentless and magically weak piece of trash." Harry said dismissively, before going to check on Katie; uncaring of the laughter being directed at Nott or his thoughts of murdering Harry or other means of revenge, and he was completely unaware of the calculating look in the eye of one Alastor Moody... Eventually, Fleur failed to 'rescue' her sister. "'Arry, can you retrieve my sister for me?" Fleur asked in concern, seeming to actually believe that she was in danger. "I will, but you do realize that she isn't actually in danger, right? Your mother and father consented to this, and Gabby will be brought to the surface when the other champions finish." Harry said kindly, not wanting to hurt her feelings but also not wanting her to worry. "Still want me to go retrieve her?" Fleur nodded and Harry went to do so. It took him a few minutes, and he had to explain his reasons through miming, but he retrieved Gabrielle, and took her to her greatly appreciative sister... Who promised to thank him well later today. Krum brought his hostage next, followed by Diggory bringing Cho. "And now the champions will be presented with their scores..." Augusta said boredly. "Fleur Delacour, though she demonstrated excellent use of the Bubble-Head Charm, was attacked by grindylows as she approached her goal, and failed to retrieve her hostage. We award her twenty-five points." Applause from the stands. "I deserve zero," Fleur said throatily. "This task worked against you, Fleur, Veela are beings of fire and air." Harry said, trying to make her feel better about herself. "Cedric Diggory, who also used the Bubble-Head Charm, was third to return with his hostage, though he returned one minute outside the time limit of an hour." Enormous cheers from the Hufflepuffs in the crowd; Harry saw Cho give Cedric a glowing look, but he was no longer bothered by it. "We therefore award him him forty points." "Viktor Krum used an incomplete form of Transfiguration, which was nevertheless effective, and was second to return with his hostage. We award him forty-five points." Highmaster Karkaroff clapped particularly hard, strangely looking very superior, despite his champion being in second place. "Harry Potter, used Magic Sense to locate his hostage and demonstrated levitation and the ability to walk on water, was first to return with his hostage, doing so in five minutes, and he returned to retrieve Fleur Delacour's hostage when she failed and asked him to retrieve her sister in her stead. He did all of this wandlessly." All of Gryffindor cheered for Harry and everyone was impressed by his skills. "We award him fifty points." Harry was pleased, that gave him a several point lead. It wasn't much, but it would give him a minor advantage for the maze, and hopefully give him a chance to get to Tom first and with no one interfering. Harry had a plan, and if Tom took his blood as expected, then it would be all the more effective. Harry decided to return to the castle, maybe study some more. June 21st, 1995. Time passed and Harry only continued training and learning... He achieved his DADA and Charms Masteries, all with near-unianimous approval from the respective guilds. He had also continued his progress in every area of magic and in his studies with the Flamel's, who had proclaimed Harry their greatest student. The Grey Factions efforts to increase their power to pass Harry's proposed amendment had been productive. They had persuaded several families to leave the Light Faction: the Bones, Longbottom, and Brown families... Harry had to whore himself out and offer a Line Continuance option to Susan Bones and Lavender Brown, and when they took their heritage tests, it was discovered that the Bones family were the descendants of Helga Hufflepuff, and the Brown's acquired one more vote to their name. All attempts to subvert members of the Dark Faction had failed, even when offering to make those heirs, who were voting for their families, the Lords and Ladies of their houses upon the current Heads death. Their was some good luck, Harry had finally convinced Morgana to reveal her existence and use the le Fay seat. She would be by his side; literally, the le Fay and Emrys seats were beside each other. The Light Faction had been continually insulted in the Daily Prophet, on Harry's orders, and Dumbledore's secrets were outed, causing massive outrage and hatred to be directed his way. Harry was hoping to have him removed as Chief Warlock and hopefully replace with someone useful from the Grey Faction. Only this meeting would tell if Harry's plans would all succeed... Dumbledore had just brought the meeting to order. "Once more, Lord Potter wishes to bring up the Azkaban Amendment and propose it become law." Several people made sounds of annoyance. "There is also another matter that needs to be tended to, first... I move for a Vote of No Confidence in Albus Dumbledore." Harry said, to the anger of the Light Faction and several others. "With his past fully revealed, he's lucky to not be labeled a Dark Lord!" Harry yelled over them. "He's a suspect in a murder, which renders him ineligible for the position in the first place." "I second the motion!" Amelia Bones said, to the Light Factions shock. "I can also confirm the truth of what Lord Potter has said." "Very well..." Dumbledore said angrily. "All those for my removal?" It was a super-majority... Over eighty people voted to remove him from his position. "So be it," Dumbledore said in defeat. "I will give it over to Minister Cornelius Fudge to handle nominations." Dumbledore left the Chief Warlock podium and took his family seat. "We will take this time to accept nominations for the position of Chief Warlock," Fudge said, wasting no time. "Alexander Greengrass!" Lord Davis said. "Augusta Longbottom!" Harry said, according to plan. "Lord Shacklebolt!" Dumbledore called out. The Dark Faction had no viable candidates, all were too young. "I second the nomination of Augusta Longbottom." Amelia Bones said. "I second the nomination of Alexander Greengrass." Lord Slughorn said, playing his part. "I second the nomination of Lord Shacklebolt." Lord Macmillan said. "Very well, very well," Cornelius said. "We will now vote, please cast your votes quietly." Everyone began voting... Minutes later and the results were magically tabulated. 73 votes for Alexander Greengrass. 18 votes for Augusta Longbottom. 13 votes for Lord Shacklebolt. "Lord Alexander Greengrass wins," Fudge said, to the Grey Factions perfectly concealed joy. The plan had worked well, they had just added yet another vote to their faction and took control of the Wizengamot. Harry enjoyed the look on Dumbledore's face when he realized that he had just lost a lot more of his power and influence. Harry would be going after his Supreme Mugwump and ICW Representative status next. Alexander took his new seat with an incredibly pleased smile. "Now, we will begin debate on the amendment." Alexander said with a smirk. "What's the point? It will just fail again." Theodore Nott said snidely. "I heard that Potter was trying to gather support and persuade people to support his worthless amendment." "And I heard your mother was a dumb whore, but even she was smart enough to kill herself when she realized how truly worthless you were." Harry said, boredly, enraging Nott and shocking most of the Wizengamot. "What? I heard that your father passed her around to all his Death Eater buddies, that attests to my statement of her being a whore. And you are worthless, stupid, and magically weak. Hardly a child that your parents could be proud of." "I challenge you to an Honor Duel!" Nott snarled, blinded by his anger. "Fine with me," Harry replied with a smirk, having gotten what he wanted. Several members of the Dark Faction looked annoyed at Nott for his stupidity. Harry and Nott descended down to the area below, wands already drawn. "Begin!" Alexander said with a smile. Harry exploded into movement, cutting through Nott with a single spell and causing the protective wards to flicker from the power and force behind his spell, causing Dumbledore, Alexander, and Augusta to all gasp in shock. Those wards were immensely powerful, and intended to contain the power of Archmages! Harry knew that, of course, and over-powered and focused his spell as an intimidation tactic... He was also hoping to 'accidentally' maim another member of the Dark Faction and force them to leave for medical reasons, and in doing so he would neutralize yet another vote of the Dark Factions. Harry returned to his seat, sadly unable to win further support, and being forced to take what he could get vote wise. Alexander called for a vote... To Harry's anger, he required only one more vote to get it passed. Harry quickly and wandlessly summoned the voting results to him, unknowingly over-power enchantments against it, and quickly read over the votes against. "Lord Potter! You are not supposed to see that!" Arthur Weasley said angrily. "Everyone should know who the traitors here are. As far as I'm concerned a vote against this amendment is as good as bearing the Dark Mark itself... And as the actual Dark Mark is getting clearer, which implies Tom is returning, I think everyone should know who protected his followers. I know I certainly want to know who's lives take priority in the event of war... and everyone who voted against this amendment are considered acceptable losses to me... Arthur Weasley, Albus Dumbledore, Amos Diggory, Alfred Macmillan, Arthur Abbott-" The results were summoned away from Harry by Dumbledore and then sent back to an amused Alexander Greengrass. "The Light isn't all that light or good, I suppose," Harry said with a smile. "I could have told you that when I took my seat, Lord Potter," Morgana said, revealing herself and sitting in her nearby seat. She had concealed her presence here, with literally no-one having sensed or seen her... "Who might you be milady?" Dumbledore questioned suspiciously, already suspecting her ancestor at least. "Morgana le Fay," She replied. "And yes, I actually am her," Morgana added, before revealing her full power to the entire Wizengamot. A power that surpassed everyone's combined power. Most looked terrified and intimidated by her presence and power; even Dumbledore, who suddenly felt helpless and weak. Alexander and Augusta both looked excited to finally meet young Hadrian's intended.